The Indian army’s raid on the Golden Temple in Amritsar, in June 1984, was a disaster. At least 575 people were killed, including armed dissidents and soldiers but also a large number of innocent civilians caught in the crossfire. The devastation inflicted on the temple itself, the holiest shrine in the Sikh religion, caused great distress to Sikhs around the world and in Britain.

It was right, then, for the Prime Minister to order an urgent investigation when secret documents emerged which suggested that a British SAS officer was involved in the planning of the raid. But despite the eagerness of some Labour MPs to link the Amritsar tragedy to Margaret Thatcher’s government, it now transpires that such involvement was very limited indeed.

As the Cabinet Secretary’s report disclosed yesterday, the UK sent the officer to India in a purely advisory role, because the Indian government – an ally – had sent an urgent request for help. (The SAS, then as now, was universally respected for its expertise in conducting hostage rescue operations with minimal loss of life.) The officer advised that a military operation should only be used as a last resort, and that it should involve helicopter-borne forces to reduce the number of casualties. Plainly, this advice was disregarded: Operation Blue Star went ahead three months later using tanks and artillery instead.

Unlike the Amritsar massacre of 1919, therefore, Britain was certainly not to blame. Indeed, the operation commander, Lieutenant-General Brar, himself a Sikh, insisted last month that “no one helped us in our planning or in the execution of the planning”. Unless further evidence emerges of Britain’s involvement in this tragedy, we should accept his word, and the Cabinet Secretary’s report.